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The Apocalypse
The Apocalypse (Latin: In Apocalypsi) was the final civil war in the Roman Empire's history and the culminating event that led to the fall of the Imperium and the rise of the Forum of Urbinum as the official governing body of the realm, taking place between 637 and 649. It is considered by many historians to be the end of the Classical Era and the beginning of the Medieval Era, though Europe as a whole deviated little from the course it had been taking since the empire was split in 395. In any case, it ended an almost 7-century-long tradition started by Octavius and brought the realm to a similar structure to the republican structure preceding it, albeit far more equitable and stable. Background Throughout the 400's, the Italian peninsula was subject to near-constant raids and invasions by Gothic tribes. Although it wasn't enough to send the state crashing down, as there was little internal instability in the Western Roman Empire after Constantine's reforms, it was enough to overstretch and exhaust the Roman army. By the turn of the century, the army had so little strength that even Sicily and Naples had fallen under the control of the Black Vandals, a peasant-led offshoot of the Vandalic kingdom in North Africa, and control had withdrawn to a corridor connecting Rome itself and the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Urbinum and the Adriatic Sea in the East. As cities in modern Toscana, Emilia, and Romagna had to fend for themselves, they increasingly asserted themselves as independent city states. First Mediolanum (Modena), then Pisanus (Pisa), then 17 other cities officially broke away from the empire. However, not in this category was Urbinum (Urbino). It was high enough and isolated enough in the mountains of Umbria that it needed only light garrisons to defend itself, but was connected enough with what remained of the Roman Empire that it both economically depended on and prospered from trade. In addition, as sacks of Rome became increasingly frequent as the Black Vandals solidified into the Kingdom of Sicily, it served as the chief home for Roman refugees, being both secluded and prosperous. By the 570's, it had both eclipsed Rome as the largest city in the empire and come to be inhabited near-entirely by poor, middle class, and impoverished senators. Without a real governing elite to guide it, decisions on the city's affairs were made on a hill outside the city where citizens of all walks of life came to voice their opinion. This strange democracy evolved into the Forum, where any citizen who had a permit, regardless of economic status, could enter the 1,000-capacity body on a first come, first served basis to make decisions. By 609, in one of the first written constitutions in history, the Forum was presided over by a body of three, known as the triumvirate. The triumvirate held executive power, but any decisions made by them had to be unanimous. Each year, one of the members of the triumvirate, selected by lottery, would be replaced by one of the forum, also selected by lottery. The random chance involved necessitated unity in the Forum to make decisions. And, soon, many legions swore fealty to this new body instead of the increasingly out-of-touch and insane emperors. In 635, Rome was dealt the worst sacking it had ever seen by the Kingdom of Sicily. In what was promptly called the Final Sack, not only was the imperial palace razed and levelled, but the aqueducts were also rendered useless by the destruction of several columns. Without a steady supply of drinking water, even the emperor was forced to leave. By 650, Rome had settled into its millenium-long status of a modest town of fewer than 5,000.